2013 seems like an odd time to talk about a brand new smartphone operating system, but that's just what we got yesterday from Ubuntu, a popular indie operating system for PCs that is making its way to the smartphone.

Like Android, Ubuntu is based on Linux and will be available as a free, open-sourced operating system.

Overall, the OS is much more open and free than Apple's iOS, yet more polished than Android.

The true test for Ubuntu will be rallying the mobile developer community to make apps for the OS and getting hardware manufacturers excited enough to make phones that ship with it. In reality though, that's easier said than done.

There are already three major mobile operating systems out today: iOS, Android, and Windows Phone. On January 30, RIM will introduce its new BlackBerry 10 operating system. However, the harsh reality is that it's probably going to be too late for Ubuntu to take off by the time it's ready at the end of the year.